Game Review: Dawn's Light 2

produced by John Wizard Games

Review by Troy Hepfner

John Wizard Games is becoming one of my favorite casual role-playing game (RPG) developers. Their games have intriguing stories with fun plot twists and offbeat humor, and Dawn's Light 2 is no exception!

First, I should point out that the game assumes you are familiar with the previous episode in the series, Dawn's Light, as there are many references to characters, places, and events from the original game. You can play this game without playing the first one, but you'll probably miss out on some of the dialogue and gags.

The game begins with a brief overview of the 7-year gap between the first game and this new story. Harvey's new quiet life does not agree with him. He is bored and restless. After 7 years, his wife finally leaves him. That same day, Harvey is visited by someone claiming to be the spirit of his dead brother, who sends him off on a new quest. (Harvey is so eager to go that he forgets to get dressed first. It's rather amusing to watch him running around in his shorts for awhile.)

The game features plenty of interesting puzzles, party-based combat, secret rooms, and craft items that you can collect and use to create more powerful weapons. There are lots of side quests, and the game rewards players who take their time to explore every corner of a dungeon and defeat every enemy. At one point, you can also split into multiple parties that pursue separate quests, and you can switch back and forth between each party or tackle their separate quests one at a time. I thought that was a neat twist, and it totally fit with the story.

Like most RPG Maker games, battles are turn-based. At first the combat is not too engaging, but as you go along, the characters earn more powerful weapons, collect useful trinkets and gadgets, and learn new skills that open up lots of interesting options. These options are critical in the boss battles, which require more strategy and careful planning.

The puzzles are quite diverse. Of course, there are the standard block-pushing, lock and key, and switch-based puzzles. But there are also plenty of logic puzzles, memory-based puzzles, scavenger hunts, and a few trial-and-error kinds of puzzles. Some of the puzzles will require you to think, but fortunately they aren't too difficult or frustrating.

As I mentioned, the humor is one of the things I enjoy about this developer's games, and the writing in Dawn's Light 2 is as funny as ever. There are plenty of clever quips, witty banter, and silly puns. I love how the developers even poke fun of themselves - at one point, you'll come across the failed ideas room where they poke fun at the experimental combat they tried for their own game, Jack of All Worlds.

There are plenty of save points scattered throughout the game, allowing you to save your game almost as often as you want. Unfortunately, there are only 4 save game slots - while that's enough to get you through the adventure, it doesn't really help when you want to be able to go back and replay a favorite part of the game.

The game is mostly family-friendly. After playing through the entire game, I only remember seeing one mild swear word in the dialogue of one of the characters. I rated the game Teen to call parents attention to this. But there is no gore or excessive violence during combat - enemies flash when hit, and they fade out when they are "killed". And I didn't see any other potentially objectionable content.

Overall, I really enjoyed this game. If you're looking for a fun, casual RPG, I highly recommend Dawn's Light 2!